This chapter covers the turn-around District 2 of New York and how Anthony Alvarado began making extreme reforms (particularly to its Reading program) when he became superintendent of the district in 1987. Alvarado highly stressed (and mandated) using Balanced Literacy in District 2's schools as a method of teaching. It was a style of teaching in which the students would teach each other many things rather than the teacher giving a lecture for the entire class. Students would learn from experience and then exchange their experiences with other students and learning more through this exchange. By the mid/late 90s District 2 gained the status of having the 2nd highest test scores in New York as opposed to its earlier rank which was somewhere in the middle of New York's 32 school districts. Education scholars such as Lauren Resnick and Richard F. Elmore took notice of District 2's great improvement and asked Alvarado to join them in documenting the process of his reform. The three attributed District 2's success solely to pedagogy rather than economic status of the district itself (which they feared would happen in the eye of the public). Sure enough, critics and parents of District 2 alike began to claim Disrict 2's methods as unorthodox and "preventing children from to read". Although Resnick, Elmore, and Alvarado claimed that District 2 had been economically stagnant during its time of reform in their report, the District actually increased in economic status while these changes were happening. Along with this, the district's school's student population was mostly made up of White and Asian students. This shows how although Alvarado's pedagogy may have had an effect on the District, it appears that race and economic status also had a great deal to do with it.
Notes
Average family income of District 2 rose from $150,767 in 1990 to $169,533 in 2000.
In 1999, when the state introduced new tests, the following proportions of students in District 2's fourth grade met state standards in Reading: 82% whites, 61% Asians, 45.7% African-Americans, and 37.8% Hispanics.
From the late 1980s to the late 1990s, District 2's enrollment grew from 18,000 to 22,000 students; however, nearly 90% of the newly enrolled students were Asian or white.
Education scholar's attributed Alvarado's improvements of District 2 schooling to his focusing "professional development and accountability almost entirely on reading and literacy improvements."
Reaction
My reaction to this is somewhat let down and disappointed. When first begin the chapter I was interested in all the numbers Ravitch was throwing out there regarding the District's improvements. I actually believed that Alvarado was making a really big difference and that other school districts were right in modeling their school system after District 2's. However, as the chapter went on, I began to realize that, although claimed by Ravitch as having many of both poor and wealthy neighborhoods, that the District's lesser amount of diversity than the New York average and economic increase in those years of reform is most likely what led it to be successful. I feel that Alvarado's reforms certainly helped with this increase in the school's success, but overall I feel as though it was just another school system benefiting from its wealthy location.
SECOND REACTION: We were not happy with this chapter. The guy discussed in chapter three, Alvarado and his tactics, were very irritating. He went in a changed all the schools around in District 2 in New York and then proceeded to do the same thing in California. He tried to balance literacy and was attempting to close the achievement gap but what really happened was that he messed with the diversity of the schools. In my opinion, making the school less diverse will not help the school as a whole. Despite the fact that his ideas were well thought out, they weren't executed properly and effectively.This chapter was very difficult for me to get through and found it to be one of the more interesting chapters in this book so far.
Chapter 3
Summary
This chapter covers the turn-around District 2 of New York and how Anthony Alvarado began making extreme reforms (particularly to its Reading program) when he became superintendent of the district in 1987. Alvarado highly stressed (and mandated) using Balanced Literacy in District 2's schools as a method of teaching. It was a style of teaching in which the students would teach each other many things rather than the teacher giving a lecture for the entire class. Students would learn from experience and then exchange their experiences with other students and learning more through this exchange. By the mid/late 90s District 2 gained the status of having the 2nd highest test scores in New York as opposed to its earlier rank which was somewhere in the middle of New York's 32 school districts. Education scholars such as Lauren Resnick and Richard F. Elmore took notice of District 2's great improvement and asked Alvarado to join them in documenting the process of his reform. The three attributed District 2's success solely to pedagogy rather than economic status of the district itself (which they feared would happen in the eye of the public). Sure enough, critics and parents of District 2 alike began to claim Disrict 2's methods as unorthodox and "preventing children from to read". Although Resnick, Elmore, and Alvarado claimed that District 2 had been economically stagnant during its time of reform in their report, the District actually increased in economic status while these changes were happening. Along with this, the district's school's student population was mostly made up of White and Asian students. This shows how although Alvarado's pedagogy may have had an effect on the District, it appears that race and economic status also had a great deal to do with it.Notes
Reaction
My reaction to this is somewhat let down and disappointed. When first begin the chapter I was interested in all the numbers Ravitch was throwing out there regarding the District's improvements. I actually believed that Alvarado was making a really big difference and that other school districts were right in modeling their school system after District 2's. However, as the chapter went on, I began to realize that, although claimed by Ravitch as having many of both poor and wealthy neighborhoods, that the District's lesser amount of diversity than the New York average and economic increase in those years of reform is most likely what led it to be successful. I feel that Alvarado's reforms certainly helped with this increase in the school's success, but overall I feel as though it was just another school system benefiting from its wealthy location.SECOND REACTION: We were not happy with this chapter. The guy discussed in chapter three, Alvarado and his tactics, were very irritating. He went in a changed all the schools around in District 2 in New York and then proceeded to do the same thing in California. He tried to balance literacy and was attempting to close the achievement gap but what really happened was that he messed with the diversity of the schools. In my opinion, making the school less diverse will not help the school as a whole. Despite the fact that his ideas were well thought out, they weren't executed properly and effectively.This chapter was very difficult for me to get through and found it to be one of the more interesting chapters in this book so far.